Baghdad Gamer Discusses Iraq's Videogame Past

Thanks to Salon.com for its article [ad click-thru required] profiling the videogame-playing, Baghdad-based owner of the 'Healing Iraq' weblog, as previously referenced in Slashdot Games articles. The weblog author, Zeyad, explains how he "started playing Sierra adventure games" like Leisure Suit Larry when he was 11 or 12, and "learned a lot about American culture from these games." He goes on to note that the Iraqi secret police had agents "whose jobs were to play and finish these games to find out if there was any mention of Iraq or Saddam", recounting the rumors that "there was a specific code or combo [in Mortal Kombat] that would spawn Saddam Hussein and his bodyguards to finish the opponent." Zeyad also criticizes the realism of some Iraq-based games such as Conflict: Desert Storm, pointing out that "the voice acting was terrible - the Iraqi soldiers talked in an Egyptian accent."